Friday, October 25, 2013

When Washington Capitals netminder Braden Holtby is on his game, the kid is one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League. When he is off his game, the 24 year old looks as though he could allow half a dozen pucks past him in a matter of seconds.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

With Sam Gagner likely a week or so away from returning to the Edmonton Oilers lineup, there are those who believe Dallas Eakins would be wise to consider running with the quartet of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gagner, Mark Arcobello and Boyd Gordon down the middle.

When Edmonton Oilers GM Craig MacTavish decided to finally pull the trigger on the David Perron for Magnus Paajarvi swap, everyone knew Edmonton would be getting the better player in the here and now. If the first ten games of his Oilers career are any indication of what fans can expect from the twenty-five year old winger, it's hard to not be impressed.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

It sure wasn't looking promising on the scoreboard after twenty minutes of play but at the end of sixty minutes, the Edmonton Oilers found a way to ge the job done. On the strength of second and third period goals from the defensive pairing of Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry, the Oilers managed to end their six-game road trip in style with a come from behind 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

According to general manager Craig MacTavish, Taylor Hall is expected to be out of action for roughly the next four weeks. While it may not have been the news Oilers fans wanted to hear, it was the news we were all expecting and frankly, hoping to hear. Obviously having Hall miss a month of action as opposed to requiring season-ending knee surgery is definitively a positive but hardly good news for the team today.

It has been a fairly busy couple of days for the Edmonton Oilers organization. From the moment Taylor Hall left the ice during the second period of Saturday afternoon's 3-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators, general manager Craig MacTavish and head coach Dallas Eakins have been working hard at restructuring the Oilers current lineup.

Monday, October 21, 2013

So what gives? Nine games into the 2013-14 campaign and Ladislav Smid has become almost an afterthought along the Edmonton Oilers blueline. The rugged Czech defender has somewhat struggled to start the year and appears to have fallen out of favour with head coach Dallas Eakins.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

On the strength of three power play goals and a steady performance from netminder Mackenzie Skapski, the visiting Kootenay Ice strolled into Rexall Place to take the opener of a two game set with the Edmonton Oil Kings by a score of 4-3. Skapski stopped 28 shots on the night and was one save better than Oil Kings backup goalie Tyler Santos, who blocked 26 of the thirty pucks fired his way.